Digital imaging specialists Syncroscopy has announced that SyncroScan, its automated microscope focus and stage control system, is being used at a leading European bone research centre in Cambridge to provide accurate image maps of bones.
On the bone . . .
The SyncroScan system, which attaches to an optical microscope, has a highresolution camera, a motorized XY stage and a Z stepper, all linked to a PC and a stagecontroller board. The system is being used by scientists in the Division of Bone Research to automatically capture and piece together many images of the femoral neck bone, part of the hip joint.
The researchers chose the system because sections of bone that can be as large as 30 mm wide are impossible to view in their entirety under a conventional microscope without an accurate method of image stitching. Senior scientist Dr Nigel Loveridge explained: ôWe are studying large bone sections to determine how bone formation occurs after hip fracture. This is important work because it could in the long term help with finding therapies for bone diseases such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.
ôThe beauty of using SyncroScan is we can easily produce an image of the whole section we are looking at. This means we can study specific areas without getting lost in the sample, which you can sometimes do when you are manually scanning through such large sections.ö The use of the SyncroScan system in the Division of Bone Research has meant that the scientists there no longer have to manually piece together images, saving time and improving accuracy.